Activision Sued For Guitar Hero Sound Problems [Update 1]

Activision is quickly finding out what it means to have the holiday season’s top-selling video game: Lots of lawsuits.

Already faced with legal threats from a rock group over a cover of a song that appears in Guitar Hero, Activision has now been named in a class-action suit that alleges that the company engaged in "deceptive and unlawful" conduct by selling the Wii version of Guitar Hero III, which only outputs mono sound, not Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound as claimed on the box.

The class named in the suit includes all purchasers of the game who "would not have purchased the Guitar Hero III video game and/or paid as much for it had they known the truth about the product."

The suit, brought by plaintiff Samuel Livingston of San Diego and represented by the law firm KamberEdelson, LLC, "seeks actual damages, individual restitution, equitable relief, civil penalties, costs and expenses of litigation, including attorney’s fees, and all further relief available."

The suit claims that Activision has not rectified the problem for "any purchaser" of Guitar Hero III, nor has it taken steps to point out the issue to future purchasers. By noting that the game is still on store shelves this holiday, the suit alleges that Activision is continuing to engage in deceptive practices.

Activision did not immediately respond to Wired’s request for comment.

UPDATE: Activision "cannot comment on any on-going litigation," says a representative for the company, who also provided Wired with this statement regarding the sound issues:

We recently became aware that some consumers have not been able to enjoy the full audio output in the Wii version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. We are currently working with Nintendo and are planning to issue an improved audio experience in future versions of the game. We expect to have re-mastered discs available by early 2008 and we will be offering consumers replacement discs at no cost once they become available. We thank all of our customers for their support and patience.